Testing of an array antenna is typically conducted in the frequency domain, without an end-to-end test. Conventionally an array antenna is tested on an antenna range with a transmit source located in the far field. With the array under test mounted on a turntable, the receive power is recorded as a function of spatial angle at a given frequency. The plot so obtained is commonly known as an antenna pattern.
Increasingly fiber optic components are being used to construct wide band array antennas. A radar's range resolution can best be tested with a very short (.about.nanosecond) pulse. But generation and processing of such short pulses in real time can be quite costly, difficult, and inaccurate.
It would therefore represent an advance in the art to provide a system which allows testing, evaluation, trouble shooting and calibration of such wide band systems in a simple and cost effective way.